Board and History

Call to Serve is created in collaboration with the Office of Personnel Management. It is the only nationwide network of colleges and universities focused solely on promoting federal service and recruiting the next generation of public servants. The program works with more than 1,400 colleges and universities to promote careers in government.

“I think what the Partnership is doing is so important because there is a barrier to be able to get an internship in government. Going directly to college campuses and providing that entryway is great.”—Lyndsey Gallagher, former Call to Serve Innovation Internship Program participant

Congress enacts into law the Partnership’s recommendation that agencies conduct an annual employee survey. Administered by the Office of Personnel Management, the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey is the government’s main tool to measure employees’ perceptions of their workplace and work experience.

The Government After Katrina project launches with support from the Ford Foundation. The initiative features a website outlining public sector management lessons from the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, promotes messages about the importance of effective government and includes several events hosted with leaders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. These efforts help inform future Partnership research and programs focused on the importance of cultivating cross-sector engagement, developing effective workforce leadership, and identifying and recruiting critical talent.

The first presidential transition planning conference convenes senior presidential campaign representatives, members of the outgoing Bush administration, and other agency and nonprofit leaders. The meeting lays the groundwork for “Ready to Govern,” a report that recommends several preelection transition reforms aimed at ensuring smooth transfers of power. Similar meetings in 2012, 2016 and 2020—and the enactment of several of these transition reforms—set a new norm for presidential candidates and their teams to initiate transition planning earlier in the election cycle.

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Two newly formed networks—the Innovators Roundtable and the Federal Human Capital Collaborative—bring communities of federal leaders and practitioners together to share best practices to address critical issues in their respective fields. Today, more than a dozen roundtables and communities for federal executives convene—including deputy secretaries, general counsels, public affairs officers, chief diversity officers, customer experience leads, assistant secretaries for administration and management, innovation and human resources leaders, and others—to collaborate with their peers, share ideas and solve problems. 

A six-year, multimillion dollar initiative focused on leadership development and employee engagement at the Department of Education launches with support from several foundations. Administered from 2010-2015, the program reaches about 2,000 employees—roughly one-third of the agency’s workforce—and leads to drastically improved employee satisfaction and performance. A multiyear program produces similar results at the Department of Labor, reaching more than 3,500 leaders between 2013 and 2018.

“Our work with the Partnership has helped us along the critically important path of transforming Education’s culture into one that is more results-driven, innovative and inclusive.”—Arne Duncan, former secretary of the Department of Education

The Center for Presidential Transition® launches, immediately becoming the premier nonpartisan resource for presidential candidates and their teams as they prepare to begin a new administration or a president’s second term. Soon after its founding, the center creates a first-of-its-kind political appointee tracker with The Washington Post to chart the status of Senate-confirmed appointees and hold administrations and Congress accountable for filling critical positions.

“Any serious political campaign should work with the Partnership and the Center for Presidential Transition®. They are the guides you need, and they have no agenda other than making the federal government work better.”— Josh Bolten, White House chief of staff, 2006-2009 

Partnership President and CEO Max Stier appears on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” to discuss the political appointments process and the number of key leadership vacancies across government. Michael Lewis releases “The Fifth Risk”—a book that documents mismanagement at the departments of Agriculture, Commerce and Energy in the wake of the Obama-Trump transition and profiles several unsung public servants to demonstrate the critical role government plays in protecting our safety and well-being. Lewis features the Partnership—its mission, Service to America Medals program, transition work and more—to underscore the need for a deeper public appreciation of government.

“By the fall of 2016, Max Stier might have been the American with the greatest understanding of how the U.S. government actually worked.” –Michael Lewis, “The Fifth Risk”

The General Counsel Exchange launches, providing general counsels, chief counsels and peer leaders an opportunity to share best practices to overcome common challenges. During the COVID-19 pandemic, membership in the exchange grows nearly ten-fold as agencies work through the legalities of shifting to a remote-hybrid operating model. As of 2024, more than 200 staff from 50 Cabinet agencies, subcomponents and independent agencies belong to the exchange.     

The Partnership’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council is formed to work on reducing the institutional factors that inadvertently create barriers to inclusivity, and pens the DEI Commitment Statement, a North Star for efforts to create a healthy workplace. In the federal space, related work brings together key federal stakeholders who share leading DEI practices and helps agencies embed DEI principles into talent management practices, hiring strategies and leadership programs.

Amid a global pandemic and fierce disputes over the 2020 election results that delayed federal transition support for President-elect Joe Biden, the Center for Presidential Transition® prepares the incoming administration, members of the Trump team, career agency officials and potential political appointees to execute a successful transfer of power. The center creates over 1,000 pages of new resources—including vetting guides and agency organizational charts—convenes key stakeholders at a transition management conference, develops a new digital resource for potential appointees called Ready to Serve and launches Transition Lab, a new podcast offering a behind-the-scenes look at presidential transitions. This work enables the Biden administration to design and implement one of the most well-planned transitions in U.S. history—as well as the nation’s first virtual transition—despite unprecedented challenges.

“The Partnership’s Assistant Secretaries for Administration and Management Roundtable was a valuable opportunity for me to gain valuable knowledge, and share and gain ideas and best practices, from current and former government leaders and subject matter experts. As a result, I was better equipped to address key issues for the successful management of my agency and our government.”  — Bryan Slater, assistant secretary for administration and management, Department of Labor, 2017-2021 

The Public Service Leadership Institute^® launches as the preeminent source of programs, policies and perspectives for federal leaders. Building on our leadership work with tens of thousands of public servants, the institute works to unify government around a single leadership standard, develop federal leaders at all levels and amplify the importance of public service leadership through training programs, convenings, research and commentary. The institute is also home to the Public Service Leadership Model and the Government Advisory Leadership Council, a group of leaders in the corporate, nonprofit, federal and academic sectors. Watch the launch event or listen to our podcast episode on the institute.

“The Partnership’s Public Service Institute will serve as a ladder that public servants can climb and will drive us closer to an equitable and inclusive vision for our country and our government.” – Deb Haaland, secretary of the interior, 2021-present 

Our Call to Serve network expands to more than 1,400 college and university professionals who promote federal opportunities to students. Members who join have the option to complete our Federal Advisor Certificate Program, which helps career services staff become experts in the federal hiring process.